IRAN AND THE WORLD IN THE SAFAVID AGE
Abstracts

Maeda, Mr. Hirotake, University of Tokyo, Faculty of Letters, The Cabinet of Oriental History, Tokyo, Shah Abbas I’s Policy toward the Caucasus: From the Information in the Newly Discovered Third Volume of the AFDAL AL-TAVARIKH

While considering the long tradition of political and cultural ties between Iran and Caucasus, the Safavid period is worth particular mention, for many Caucasians directly took part in the state administration and possessed a strong influence upon it.  Though Shah Tahmasp I began this policy of elite recruitment and his quasi-successor Prince Hamza continued it, it was Shah Abbas I who especially favoured these elements and gave them a firm footing in the newly restructured state organization.

At the time of Shah Abbas l's accession, most of North-West Iran and the Caucasus was under the control of the Ottomans.  While recruiting Caucasians, Shah Abbas I re-conquered these territories as well.  So we are provided with a unique example of centralization by way of the integration of newly (or once more) acquired territory and its population into the central regime, which is to say that Shah 'Abbas I's state reorganization was closely connected with his policy toward the Caucasus.

A few years ago, volume three of the Afdal al-tavarikh was discovered by Dr. Melville in Cambridge.  With his rich cultural background and extensive bureaucratic experience, Fadli Isfahani, the author of the chronicle, has left a quite vivid description of the reign of Shah Abbas I.  The source is unique in containing so much biographical information on the state and provincial elites, including the newly rising Caucasians.  In the course of his career Fadli was vizier of Barda‘ and Kakheti: thus he was in charge of Safavid policy toward the Caucasus.  Fadli gives many original accounts of events bearing on the socio-political situation of the local society.

So called slave soldiers in the Islamic world have usually been regarded as having been cut off from their original family ties and any relationships with their homeland.  But to go by to Fadli’s description, in this case the opposite is readily apparent.  In the presentation we discuss the process of territorial conquest and the integration of Caucasians into the Safavid regime, using Fadli’s chronicle in addition to the other sources written in Persian, Georgian and Armenian.  The following points will be discussed: the relationship between the powerful local families and the Safavid authorities, the conditions of forced migration, the relationship of the ghulams with their lands of origin, the changes brought about by Shah Abbas I’s campaigns in the Caucasus.  Particular attention will be paid to Georgia for it was situated on the borders of the land within the Qizilbash ruling system, and produced many powerful ghulam representatives.

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